Kudos for Tampa Bay Times editorial "Governor Phony". Outstanding.

[madfloridian]

Great editorial from the Tampa Bay Times yesterday. So glad to see a newspaper put forth the reality here in Florida in a clear, no-nonsense way.

Editorial: Governor Phony

Fourteen months from the next election, Gov. Rick Scott's sales pitch is clear. He portrays himself as the education governor, the defender of the environment and the advocate for open records. He's the jobs governor, and he has empathy for Floridians without health coverage. Don't be fooled by the packaging. It's a facade that hides reality, and Florida deserves better.

...The reality is Scott failed to show up at his own (education) summit to listen to the concerns of school superintendents and others. Instead he ate dinner privately with former Gov. Jeb Bush, whose passion for education is unquestioned even if some of his views are controversial.

....This year's per student funding is the highest of Scott's three years as governor. But it is still lower than each of the five previous years under his predecessors, Charlie Crist and Bush. Scott also signed into law the legislation that siphons off school construction money to privately run charter schools. And the governor's last two hand-picked education commissioners have shown more interest in advocating for charter schools and expanding voucher programs than in creating successful public schools.

And as to Scott's environmental record, it is pretty devastating. The editorial gives more detail, but this paragraph is telling.

Scott is still looking at toll roads to nowhere across the middle of Florida. The state still has no cohesive energy policy. And the governor's environmental agency is more focused on quickly approving the requests of developers than on protecting wetlands. A news conference on one worthy project cannot mask years of bad policy.

Florida does indeed deserve better. I fear that few Floridians are aware of the damage being done to our state under this governor.

We need more editorials like this.

[L0oniX]

1. Bat Boy is so bad that even the repukes here are not going to vote for him again.

I hear it regularly.

[madfloridian]

2. I hope you are right.

I've been wondering about it.

[onethatcares]

3. I hope you're right too,

But I never give the citizens of this fine state the benefit of the doubt when it comes to electing people that want to shaft them.

Hell, I didn't read the editorial yet but I'm wondering if anything was said about Citizens Insurance and how his hand picked PCS routinely grants premium increases or how Duke energy gets to keep 1.5 Billion dollars of ratepayers money for a nuke plant that will never be built and is already collected while they apply for a 7% rate increase?

The carpetbaggers haven't stopped screwing this state over since Bob Graham was governor and we could really use a Lawton Chiles about now instead of Charlie or Alex.

[madfloridian]

5. The editorial only skims the surface, but it's a start.

Hopefully more to come. There is no leadership here, just right wing ideologues.

[Mojorabbit]

15. Well said! nt

[monmouth3]

4. I'm hearing the same on the Florida east coast. They consider him non-effective..n/t

[onethatcares]

6. what is "non effective"?

he's refused to expand medicare, he's turned back billions for light rail, he's pretty much allowed pam blondie to kill Obamacare along with the fla legislature, he is in the process of going for more tax breaks for the job cremators, and he has learned how to hide his state communications from the sunshine law.

In my opinion, we would have been better served if he was sentenced for medicare fraud in the beginning.

[monmouth3]

8. Which makes him non-effective. The guy is a loser...n/t

[DonCoquixote]

7. Florida Dems

Will find a way to put him in, especially if they run Alex Sink again. It says a lot where the best hope to keep a GOP out of Tallahassee is a fromer GOP from Tallahassee, aka that former "independent" Charlie "I helped put Rubio in office" Crist.

[madfloridian]

10. Agree on that.

If they run Sink again, we are "sunk". It is pretty sad that a former Republican is about the only one who can win for us. I like Crist a lot, though I disagree with many things he did in office. But just like last time, I would vote for him to give us a chance.

[DonCoquixote]

16. especially since

Florida Dems proved they would not vote for someone like Kendrick meek, even with Big Dawg Billy Clinton stumping for him. I still remember yelling at the mods about people stumping for then "third party" Crist, only to be told in a mealy mouthed way that was the only way to keep Rubio out. No, the only way to keep rubio out is for Florida Democrats to stop acting like DINOS.

Yes, that includes Debbie Wasserman-Scultz too. She is taking a victory lap when a bunch of us Brown and Old Floridians stood five hours in the sun to vote. Why aren't you talking about it now Debbie?, hell, at least do a daily rant on You Tube to show you still pretend to give a damn!

[DonCoquixote]

17. I would love to agree, but

Never forget the two most influential departments of Florida government, and by that I mean the smoke-filled room and the Church Pulpits. GOP will vote for anything not a Democrat.

[otohara]

9. Who Will The Dem Candidate Be?

I read some of the comments and one wrote the Dems have no viable candidate.

[madfloridian]

13. Probably Nan Rich. Here's an article.

http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2012-09-11/news/fl-florida-governors-race-2014-20120911_1_charlie-crist-alex-sink-scott-and-sink

"Crist brushed off questions about a potential run, telling MSNBC host Chris Matthews he didn't think he'd challenge Scott. And Scott, when asked about potentially facing Crist, said "Isn't that a hypothetical?"

Still, Crist is considered one of several candidates potentially in the mix to run for the Democratic nomination. So far, only state Sen. Nan Rich of Weston has formally declared her intention to run. But former state Chief Financial Officer and 2010 Democratic gubernatorial nominee Alex Sink, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and former Miami-Dade County Commissioner Jimmy Morales have all hinted at potential candidacies.

A poll commissioned by Christian Ulvert, a Miami political consultant who ran former Miami Beach Sen. Dan Gelber's 2010 campaign for attorney general, found that 59 percent of Democrats had a favorable opinion of Crist and 52 percent had a favorable opinion of Sink. But when asked whom they'd vote for, just 31 percent said Sink and 29 percent said Crist.

"Charlie Crist was applauded during his four years by the Democrats and carried some big policy initiatives for the Democrats, so I'm not surprised by his favorability numbers," Ulvert said. "But favorability numbers don't always translate into votes."

[gopiscrap]

11. Excellent article

[libodem]

12. Skelator?

Is that you?

[madfloridian]

14. He's a disaster on health care. Denied 1 million Medicaid.

"Health care

After Florida failed to persuade the courts to block health care reform, Scott called for the state to accept billions in federal dollars and expand Medicaid to 1 million uninsured residents. "I cannot, in good conscience, deny Floridians the needed access to health care," he declared in February.

Then he stopped listening to his conscience. Scott sat by as House Speaker Will Weatherford blocked expansion, and he has dropped the issue. What the governor has done is reject millions in federal dollars to implement health care reform and left the creation of an insurance exchange to the federal government. He also foolishly signed into law a ban on state regulation of health insurance rates for two years.

New U.S. Census figures show nearly 1 in 4 Floridians lack health insurance, the second highest rate in the nation. Hospitals in Orlando, Vero Beach and elsewhere are laying off workers and reducing pay in part because the new Medicaid dollars aren't coming.

http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-governor-phony/2139239